Sinclair uses a methodical planning process to obtain external funding to advance the College's strategic plan and achieve a significant return on investment.

Agenda The Grants Office maintains a Grants Agenda which lists deadlines for continuing projects, new institutional priorities, and new divisional/department priorties.  Information from the agenda is used to create the Grants Office work plan.

Decision Matrix Grant opportunities that arise during the year that are not on the agenda are assessed using this tool, allowing us to make the critical go/no-go decisions based on some rational process rather than "Wow, what a neat idea—let's do it!"

Preliminary Proposal Form As approved projects are being developed during the fiscal year and more details are known, the information on this form is shared with a Concept Review Team, which includes the Principal Investigator, the Grants and Contracts Manager, and the Director of Budget & Analysis. Adjustments are made to the project based on this review.

Process Flow Chart illustrates the steps of the planning process through submission.

The Transmittal Form is used for all proposals before submission.  Staff transmits this form along with the narrative and final budget for review and approval by the Grants and Contracts Accountant, Budget Director, and Vice President for Business Operations prior to signature by the President.

New Venture Business Plan Template is a tool to guide the project director through a standardized thought/proposal process to determine both the educational and financial benefit of the proposed initiative.